Quito round 2

Done with life in rural Ecuador. I will miss the people and the beautiful forest and playing UNO with my family. I will not miss the bugs.

Only two more days left in this country. Am I sad? A little. I am mostly excited to get a move on. It feels as though I have been in this bug ridden country for my entire life even though it has been only a few weeks.

I exaggerate, it has not been so bad. Ecuador has been so chill but I am ready to chill in another country.

Anyways, a quick update of what has happened these last few days: everyone thought my appendix was going to burst but it turned out to just be food posioning, a woman in a mall approached me and thought I had some sort of skin disease because of all the bug bite sores on my leg, I have an arrow on my head that will not wash off for another week thanks to the Tsachilas, and I found out that my cat Piña has been abandoned.

All in all, a normal week for a gap year student.

I am trying to reflect on my time in Ecuador and come up with something deep and meaningful that will wow everyone with my deep wisdom. But I am not very good at reflecting and coming to conclusions. But I can say that the thing I learned most in Ecuador is that the Tsachila tribe of Ecuador are some of the most wonderful people I have encountered. I feel very lucky to have been able to hear firsthand the stories of their past and how life in the modern world has affected them.

I had never considered the effect that development has on indigenous tribes. I never stopped to realize that globalization is slowly erasing the many different cultures and native tongues of millions of people around the world. But now I have experienced it firsthand.

I guess that was a deep reflection.

Now I am off to enjoy my last two days in Ecuador. I am going to eat a lot of ice cream and take a lot of hot showers.